The consultancy firm founded by Lord Mandelson is on the verge of going into administration, a member of staff told Sky News.
The Global Council (GC), which severed its ties with the former government minister and ambassador to the US earlier this month over his links with late paedophile financier Jeffrey. Approximately 130 employees are employed.
A new leadership team appointed after GC’s chief executive left on 6 February, including chairman of M&S Archie Norman, took the decision to close amid a customer exodus.
Mark Kleinman blog: see the latest from Sky’s City editor
Sky News reported a week ago that US investment firm KKR had become the latest global name to pull its business from the company in view of Peter Mandelson. He was dismissed in Washington and a decision was taken to expel him from the Labour Party because of his ties to Epstein.
The GC employee told Sky News, “Officially, we were told at the company’s all-hands meeting around 1pm today, but I think everyone knew the writing was on the wall because many big-name tech and financial clients had left.
Will Mandelson testify in the Epstein investigation?
“So I think naturally people’s conclusion was, ‘Who was paying us?'” But I don’t think anyone realised the extent of the damage. I think many people thought junior staff would be cut, but until today it wasn’t clear that everything was going to close.
“At the meeting, they said administrators are coming tomorrow, and the office lease will be coming in the next few days. Recruiters will be coming to help people with the next steps.
Mandelson was interrogated while returning home
“People had questions about what their rights were, and Chairman Archie was also there and made a short statement.
“Archie Norman essentially said this is not a reflection of anyone’s work or anything. We have been unfairly implicated in this and cited his past experience of dealing with crises.
“Mandelson was not mentioned explicitly at any point, but Rebecca Parks [new chief executive] said that it is because of this association that the employees have been unfairly attacked.
“Actually many people are relatively new to the company and have never met Mandelson, and he stopped business activities a long time ago. This is difficult for all of us.
“I know that for one of our clients, which is a global streaming company,
Mandelson was an issue. Public companies with UK exposure face a more significant challenge.
The GC later said in a statement: “After a detailed review of the options available to the company, the Global Counsel board has decided to ask the UK courts to appoint Interpath as an administrator to control the company’s assets and sell them.
“Clearly, this will no longer be business as usual, as the administrators-in-waiting have already indicated that, in the unlikely event that any ongoing service to customers is viable, this will only be on a limited basis.
The administrators will inevitably make a large number of redundancies when they take control of the company tomorrow.
It added: “The board wishes to thank firstly, all our employees who stood together in very difficult times and showed extraordinary resilience in the face of circumstances beyond their control; secondly, our customers, who were put in a difficult position because of these events and whose generous support is a tribute to our teams; and thirdly, our shareholders, who have suffered material loss through no fault of their own.”
Establishing the Global Council in November 2010, the new leadership team had no connection to its co-founders.
It provided lobbying and other advisory services to many top global firms. Sir Keir Starmer’s appointment of Lord Mandelson as US Ambassador in late 2024 required him to step back from any role in its daily business.
GC announced earlier this month that the divestment of its shares was being completed in a move that would “sever any connection between Global Council and Peter Mandelson.”
“This means he no longer has any shareholding, role, or association with the Global Council, and he has no influence over the company in any capacity,” the company said.
Lord Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords, and it is widely feared to lose its counterpart in the coming months.
